Ben Kvalo

As founder and CEO of Midwest Games, Ben Kvalo has pushed forward a new publishing model in a industry amidst significant change and disruption, providing more flexible and sustainable support for publishers and developers.

Ben is an entertainment and video games leader, having built out films and games while at Netflix. Prior, Ben has worked at two of the largest global video game companies, 2K and Blizzard, working across various roles in publishing, marketing, and technology.

The Modular Publishing Economy: How Game Publishing Evolves Beyond the Legacy Model

The traditional publishing model is clearly under pressure, but the replacement model still feels like it is being invented in real time. More and more, support is becoming modular: strategy, launch planning, commercialization, community, etc., and expertise is being distributed across a network of partners instead of living under one roof. This roundtable will explore what that shift unlocks, what new risks it creates, and what leaders have to manage differently when the old structure no longer fits the market. This will be a discussion around what comes next and what a durable publishing ecosystem might actually look like.